With more than 55 years of audio expertise, Rotel’s engineers say they have designed a multi-channel preamplifier capable of decoding all popular audio formats.

This is hardly an idle boast: the 1576’s 2 DSPs and its array of 6 Wolfson 24b/192 DACs support configurations option ranging from 5.1 to a complete Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 home theatre. There are also 12-channels of RCA audio outputs for those that want endless installation customization.

Internally, the 1576 has individual audio and video processing circuits along with careful placement of cabling to ensure a top-class audio performance.

But here’s the thing: the 1576’s audio circuits were tuned in the UK by Rotel’s acoustic engineering team who laboured away to give the 1576 the wherewithal to cruise through the dynamic peaks and troughs carried by blockbuster movie soundtracks.

As for source inputs, the 1576 has a bundle of them including 3 coaxial, 3 optical, PC-USB (24b/192k), iPod USB, apt-X Bluetooth, RCA analogue and a moving magnet phono input for vinyl.

As expected the new processor has a moveable feast of custom installation options such as RS232 and IP control, IR remote receiver input, IR remote repeater outputs, 10-band parametric EQ for room equalisation and software updates via the front USB or over the internet.

The 1576’s setup menus are available on both the HDMI output and on the integrated VFD display to give users easy access to all configuration options.

To match the RSP-1576, Rotel has a full range of class AB amplifiers ranging from 120-watts to 350 watts in 2-channel and 5-channel options.

The RSP-1576 sells overseas for US$2499.

Australian availability and pricing have not yet been confirmed by Australian distributor, Interdyn.

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One of the veterans of the Australian HiFi industry, Peter was formerly the Audio-Video Editor of the Herald Sun for over two decades. One of the most-respected audio journalists in Australia, Peter brings his unparalleled experience and a unique story-telling ability to StereoNET.

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